Chana Masala (Chickpeas in Tomato-Onion Sauce)

I had planned to post this recipe midweek but I wasn’t happy with the pictures. So I made it again, which is fine because I could eat it just about every day, I love it so much. Even my picky daughter will eat this.

Dry-farmed Early Girl tomatoes ready to roast

In summer, I buy lots of Early Girl, dry farmed tomatoes and roast and freeze them so we’ll have tomatoes for several months after the season ends. You can read about that in this post. I choose this type of tomato because it has an intense and sweet flavor.

In a perfect world, I would run my roasted tomatoes through the food mill to remove the skins. The pictures would look better. But in the real world, I don’t run my tomatoes through the food mill for this recipe—I can’t be bothered. Sure the skin-free pics would make for better food porn but I’d rather post what I actually eat.

Directions

1. Soak chickpeas for six hours or longer and cook in a pot on the stove, in a slow cooker or in a pressure cooker until done. I cooked the chickpeas for this post in a mere 5 minutes in my pressure cooker (I love my pressure cooker).

2. In a large skillet or Dutch oven, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the cumin seeds and cook, stirring until fragrant, about 1 minute.

3. Add the onion, ginger, garlic, chiles and salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions have softened, about 5 minutes.

I love this, too! If the onions a sliced instead of chopped and allowed to carmelize while cooking with the spices, it is almost heaven. Served with naan it makes an easy lunch the next day.
Thanks for posting the recipe!